Topic: welding toyota sheet metal?

[toyodaaddict]

my welder just burns right through toy sheet metal. so im looking to get another one just for the perpose of bobing beds, making half doors and such. was thinking about a harbor freight 90 amp flux wire welder? im new to welding. any suggestions?

[axled89]

any 110 should be fine.

[87pickup]

My miller 210 with .030 wire on the lowest setting welded 16ga for my half doors. But .023 would work better or a 110 welder.

[junya92toy]

also, get a copper bar and use that as a heat sink. It helps keep you from blowing out the sheet metal.

[zippo]

I use a miller 180 and weld 20G all day with no problems. It's all about going slow. and getting the Volt/Wire Speed right.

Start your new weld in the edge of the old and pull it a little and make a new spot weld. and keep going. Running long welds on the thin metal is really hard. I guess you would do it with really low volt but many tak welds are easier.

[junya92toy]

Ya tack welds, if you weld too much you will over heat the metal and it will warp

[wesley]

tack it all the way. if your good and use the right equipment you can do sheet no problem. but if ur new to welding just use your welger, turn it down and tack the out of it. just remember. if you mess it up, god created grinders and bondo for good reason

[toyodaaddict [OP]]

my situation is right now all ive got is a lincoln 225 stick welder i plan on buying a hobart 210 mig in the near future but i want to bob a bed and make some half doors right NOW. so i thought a cheap  HF welder like the one mentioned in my OP might be my answer

[86rustbucket]

yes that will work fine

get the   handy mig 100

its a flux core only, you can get them on sale for about 90 bucks and they work great

but dont buy their wire its a ripoff, you can get lincoln inner shield for 10 bux a roll at lowes and their crap is 20 a roll.
 

[Quick Draw]

my situation is right now all ive got is a lincoln 225 stick welder i plan on buying a hobart 210 mig in the near future but i want to bob a bed and make some half doors right NOW. so i thought a cheap  HF welder like the one mentioned in my OP might be my answer

I have an old Miller stick welder that I got for free that I do EVERYTHING with...including patching my floor panels and building half doors.  With some patience, you really can do anything with a stick welder, which most people refuse to believe.  Having some training certainly helps, however.  I got some certs at a local community college which was very helpful.  So depending on how much time and patience (and lack of money) you have, maybe try to stick with the stick?  No pun intended... 

[BLACKDOG]

I agree with the post directly above. 

However, I do have the cheapo HF welder, and itwill certainly do the job on sheet metal.  Just like everyone said, wire speed and power settings have to be right.  Also, as mentioned, don't use the HF wire, its crap to work with. 

[rockin86runner]

i have a miller 251 with .035 wire and i dont have a problem burning threw and the setting isnt even turned down all the way and i do sheet metal work all the time with it


just move around and use a copper bar

[86bobbedtoy]

i have a miller 251 with .035 wire and i dont have a problem burning threw and the setting isnt even turned down all the way and i do sheet metal work all the time with it



just move around and use a copper bar

a copper backing helps alot
i have a lincoln 180hd 220 using .30 and co2

i just tack alot

[toyodaaddict [OP]]

I have an old Miller stick welder that I got for free that I do EVERYTHING with...including patching my floor panels and building half doors.  With some patience, you really can do anything with a stick welder, which most people refuse to believe.  Having some training certainly helps, however.  I got some certs at a local community college which was very helpful.  So depending on how much time and patience (and lack of money) you have, maybe try to stick with the stick?  No pun intended... 

do you have any advice on how to get the stick to work? i spent most of sunday afternoon practicing on toy sheet. i was using 6013 rod. i tried lots of little tack welds and no luck, any where ther was even the smallest gap it burned through. do i need to try a differant rod?

[Quick Draw]

I personally hate 6013 for just about everything but perfectly flat perfectly clean joints.  You should try 6010 or 6011.  They are "fast-freeze" rods so the puddle hardens up quick.  You're probably going to have to do several tacks at the lowest amperage you can still strike an arc at.  The most I can ever do is about 5 seconds of arc before it melts through on real thin stuff.  Try laying your rod down near horiztontal a couple inches above the material.  Then turn your wrist to drop the rod.  Begin the arc and let a small puddle form, then quickly turn your wrist to pop the rod up about an inch from the weld, and then back again.  Try to do this without breaking the arc each time.  Lengthening the arc in this way will cool the weld, but let it still be hot enough to keep the slag on top.  Then after about 5 tacks, break the arc, brush the bead to clean it up, and go again.

Also, do what you can to avoid the gaps...but they happen.  If you blow a big hole, or have a big gap, just take your time with it, and add weld as slowly as you can.  I've closed some seriously big gaps just by putting little tacks all around it, then going back and putting a little more around and around until it slowly closes up.

[yotaneck13]

i used 6011 lowest setting on my lincoln to bob my bed tack it down across so its straight then tack the top then the bottom then the top....when you get close to the middle pause inbetween you dont wanna warp the metal with too much heat